


Astronomical Twilight

by rannas



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22559926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rannas/pseuds/rannas
Summary: No matter how different the journey, or how long it takes, there is a place where both red and blue meet after all.
Relationships: Axel/Saïx (Kingdom Hearts), Isa/Lea (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	Astronomical Twilight

It was quiet for the first time since his reawakening. Everything had been a flurry of checks and people and questions. At that time, he couldn’t remember a time Lea had not been by his side. A gentle hand on his back every time he wavered or seemed confused. Isa had always been the planner, the one in charge but now it was Lea asking the questions and leading the way. 

So many difficult conversations and harsh realities he had to face but somehow with Lea’s guiding hand it didn’t seem so bad. His new world was a harsh contrast from his old. No more black and white of the realm between, his new reality was awash in colors and emotions. A reality that was far harder to navigate it but one he would never trade in for his old empty existence that could hardly count as life. 

He had so many things to atone for, how could he complain about being rushed around? And honestly, sitting on that clock tower eating ice cream, it was all worth it. There was so much to unpack about his time as a nobody, his future as a person. But something about sitting on that clocktower, looking down on the world as he ate ice cream- it all didn’t seem so daunting. He hadn’t contributed much to the moment beyond purchasing the ice cream. He was more content to just listen. Lea was better at interacting with them all anyhow, and before long the 5 teens had steered the conversation in places his mind was just not ready to catch up with. 

After some time, the kids all left to see the latest movie showing in the town. Roxas and Xion had practically been buzzing with excitement at the concept. He had forgotten how little life they had got to live, despite being teenagers. Funny their life was just beginning at the age that their own had halted to a stop. Seeing the joy on their faces as they went off with their friends gave him a weird rush of guilt but also joy. Guilt for all the things he had done in the guise of being heartless, in his foolish pursuit of power for a plan gone awry, the monster he had turned into. Joy for new beginnings free of the organization, free of responsibilities and choices no child should have to make. They deserved a far happier future than the sad short lives they had. There was no point wondering what lives he and Lea could have led if they hadn’t lost their hearts at that age. And there was no point pretending he hadn’t made their lives so hard, but it could make sure their futures would be better… that would be a start. 

Silence fell on the clocktower without the presence of the chatter of the 5 teens. Sitting together looking at the sky. Just like they had before all this. Funny how so much had happened between them but somehow this still felt so right. 

After a spell, Lea took the extended silence as a cue to go get more ice cream. And Isa found himself alone for the first time since he had awoken. He had always been comfortable with solitude when he was younger. That’s how Lea and he had met after all. He had come up to him and called him out for being the weird kid who always sits by himself. To which he had told him he was the weird kid who never shuts up. And he could still remember that dumb smile Lea had given him before sitting down with him without asking. And simply as that he suddenly found himself always with Lea by his side, unsure just why the kid with the goofy grin had latched on to him. 

“Do you think there’s such a thing as too much ice cream?” Lea rounded the clocktower corner, two more ice creams in hand. 

“If there is I’m afraid you have far exceeded it.” Isa’s lips twitched up, the feeling so unfamiliar after all those years of his other-self. The self that did not smile so easily. He took is ice cream and the salty-sweet treat seemed even better than the last once they had share barely an hour ago. Even better than the ones he remembered having as kids. They fell into familiar silence. The rays of the sunset dancing over their faces as they finished their ice cream. Down below the could see the Tram Commons where the kids would be watching their movie and going to the bistro to eat.

“Hey… Isa.” Lea looked over at him, head tilted, that familiar impish smile on his face, fingers twirling the leftover wooden stick. “Do you know why the sun sets red?” 

Isa looked out to the horizon and laughed, “You do realize I’m the one who told you that.” 

It was a moment not unlike this one. The sunsets were not a constant in Radiant Garden, but they had sat on an overhang eating ice cream almost like this. They had watched the sunset over the castle, discussing their next break-in. Lea had been eagerly looking at the castle. This moment perfectly captured in his mind because he found himself looking at Lea most of the time, and the way his red hair shone in the red light of the sunset. At the time, he had not really understood that warm pooling of emotion in his gut. Maybe if he had, he would have confessed. Done something. But at the moment all he saw was red. So he told him about how the light was made of lots of different colors but out of all of those…. 

“Red travels the farthest right?” Isa moves slow and placed his hand above Lea’s, knuckles scraping slightly against the concrete of the ledge as he entwined his finger around his.

“Yeah” Lea sighed and leaned towards him, shoulders touching above their enclasped hands. 

“Remember when we were up here before the battle.” 

“Yeah, you took my ice cream.” Lea’s nose wrinkled in faux anger. 

“You said you were going to drag me back as well? Were you lying?” 

“You’re aren’t ya.” Even from the side, Isa could see Lea’s typical cocky little grin. 

“Yes but even I was not sure I’d be making it back. Not many people die 3 times and live to tell the tale.” His life a human, a regular teen had been snuffed out. And twice he had fallen as a nobody, the corrupted shell of his former self. In so many ways he had no business being alive again. 

“Nah.I believed in you. You’re too stubborn to die.” 

“Sure didn’t sound like it at the time. I believe you told me to shut my mouth on multiple occasions.” Isa smiled coyly, 

“You deserved it,” said Lea returning the smile. 

“True enough,” Isa replied, with more than a touch of bitter sarcasm. After all, he had accepted all his wrongdoings. Moving past them would be a different story. 

“Isa…” Lea’s voice trailing off as they returned into a comfortable silence, bathed in red-orange light. 

The sky never darkened here. But at home, he remembered how the sky would slowly darken. The warm shades of red and orange being replaced with purples and blues. The slower colors. The ones that took a little longer but made it all the same. And personally he always was a little more fond of that later sunset. The one where the horizon was the line of fiery red and orange still refusing to fade but the sky was a velvety blue and you could already see the brightest of stars and the moon hanging above. The last and strongest remnants of the day combined with the beginnings of the night. That moment where the balance shifted. 

Lea’s thumb rubbed over the back of his hand, “How are you feeling? You know, being a person again?” 

Electricity from that touch flowed through his veins, any uncertainty he felt didn’t even matter to him. “I don’t know. Haven’t really had time to take it all in.” 

Heads turned, and for a moment they were still, foreheads pressed together with the only sound between them slow breaths as Slow and searching, each of them taking in the sensations of being so close, the distance between them of that other encounter at this very clock tower long gone. 

“We’ll figure it all out.” Isa could feel Lea’s warm breath on his face as he spoke. 

“Yeah… together.” And Isa pulled closer, like the night pushing onto the day. Slower than that brilliant red light maybe but he also remembered from those long-ago school days that blue light was full of energy. That must be the surge he was feeling as he closed that distance. Lips met and Isa could feel the warmth of the setting sun coursing through his veins. In the end, blue and red meetings, like those last fleeting moments of the sunset. 

**Author's Note:**

> The title is weird I know but its the name for that last bit of twilight mentioned in the fic. Well, more in between nautical and astronomical twilight but I like the second name more and the second meaning of it being a large amount of time and effort it took them to get to this point. I know how popular this headcanon is and has probably been written many a time (I try to avoid reading many fics in what I like to write so I don't unintentionally take ideas or anything). I actually wrote it about a year ago immediately after beating KH3 and never published it. I cannot remember why but I found it in my google drive so I decided it was time and I liked it enough to move past all the collections of half-written pieces that are there.


End file.
